


DISCORD

by orphan_account



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: 606/707, 707 | Luciel Choi's Real Name, Alternate Universe - Inception Fusion, Alternate Universe - Psychics/Psionics, Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Asexuality Spectrum, Borderline Personality Disorder, Child Neglect, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I Don't Even Know, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, POV Alternating, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redemption, Reset Theory (Mystic Messenger), Seven's Imaginary Girlfriend, Threesome, ménage à troi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 01:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11116695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: 20XX.Otome games are the new Temple Run, the new Fruit Ninja, the next thing to have Oprah endorse - YOU GET A HOT BOY! YOU GET A HOT BOY! EVERYONE GETS A HOT BOY! - but also the subject of the most fraud.It's so much easier to simply use actual people instead of codes..Just use the most interesting dreams they've had.And make sure that they never wake up.





	1. VISUAL NOVEL :  UNKNOWN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His angel came with butterflies.   
> She left with _____.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a short chapter today because Saeran's character - though important - is kind of a background one for right now. 
> 
> He'll get more attention as the VNs become more central to the story - in a couple more chapters. 
> 
> And also because I'm having some trouble with V. 
> 
> Playing the Zen and Jaehee routes were an interesting take on the 'benevolent aloof leader' - how far hands off is he when it comes to Rika?.... Or what he thinks is Rika?

"What's your favourite color?"

There's always butterflies when she arrives and they devour her just the same.

Leaving nothing but her voice and the knowledge that it's all _his_ fault that she's gone.

He loves her almost as much as he's devoted to his Savior but he can't invite her to Paradise because she doesn't believe.

One day, he'll convince her.

But for today, he'll pretend that this is a date with a girl who dances with monsters and adores him yet loves _him_ just the same.

"Blue. Like the skies, my love."

She's always a tingling mess of emotions, something almost as tangled and fucked up as himself but she's always...

Always...

Honest.

"Why are you in this game?"

His head hurts too much to think about but he knows he's waiting.

"Waiting."

Its clipped and short and he knows he sounds angry but she's there and she's staying and-

"For what?"

Someone steals his voice and shouts,

"DAMN it, Lawliet, stop asking me! I'm waiting for you! I'm waiting for-"

[R E S E T]

"What's your favourite **c** o _L_ o **r**?"

He was alone before his Savior and he's all alone now.

"My favorite color is Magenta. The same as our Paradise."

Somewhere beyond this room of monitors, he can see a butterfly alight the finger of one of the chosen - a player named [NYX] - as she discusses something with two RFA members.

"Soon they will join us."

"Yes, soon."

And the game continues on and _on_ and on and _**on**_ and on and _o_ n and on and on and on and on and _on_ and on and - 


	2. CHATROOM ONE: U N AVAILABLE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lawliet Nox joins the RFA.  
> Too bad that Rika's haunting the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As time goes on, the difference between dreaming and waking will be shown who's speaking but Lawliet was brought in unaware of the fact until much later.

She wasn't sure why she had downloaded it in the first place.  
Maybe because she needed something to do that wasn't so damned simple.  
Puzzles?  
In her sleep.  
Algorithms? Scribble?  
In a coma.  
People.  
.... Still working on the whole 'make friends'.  
At the very least, she wasn't a NEET.  
The term was Japanese and honestly, she understood just how xenophobic their people were but just as honestly, with the economy...  
She was stealing the goddamn term.  
And her life back.  
"Going under.... Drowning in you~"  
Hoping to God no one on the train - or part of the Agency - just heard that squeak, she picks up the phone immediately.  
"Hello, mother."  
What follows is not her stealing her life back, in fact, just the opposite.  
She had just sold it.  
Where the hell was she going to get an apartment?!  
She had been going to live with her mother!  
Who she was going to tell that she'd live in a hotel!  
After three days!  
Suppressing her mental breakdown for after the train, away from the judgment of the public eye, she determinedly strides - despite what anyone else will say, it was a _GODDAMN STRIDE_ \- towards a bench.  
Before she could even begin to joke about it being a perfect place to sleep, her phone gave a frantic screech.

[Your phone has been chosen for a special reward!]

Glaring at the device which as it is an inanimate object says nothing as she unlocked it, she tries to swipe away the annoying pop-up.

No matter how much she avoided it, it seemed pretty hellbent to open up a new window.

Since she couldn't really explain what the Agency's website was, she with a thumb poised over the delete button, allowed the site to fully awaken.

"Mystic Messenger... "

Sighing in semi-relief, semi-why-the-fuck-do-I-do-this?, she slumped onto the bench, carefully avoiding the sketchy looking wet spot as it loaded a very stereotypical green matrix.

It was as though these people didn't know what hack-

Immediately she thought that, though, Python code began to spread across the screen instead.

"Shit. I meant... Shiz. Shiz on a biscuit-"

Hoping to God that it was just some cracker who thought it'd be a joke to try and get her credit card number, she tries to stop it but it's far too late.

Softly craddling her more likely than not, useless phone, she's unsure how to set her face when it happily chirps to life once more.

[Unknown has logged in]  
[MC has logged in]

All too happily, she taps the screen.

That had scared her!

But hey, Cheritz had to market the goods somehow and for a teenage wet dream version of FaceLook, the technology was absolutely fantastic.

* * *

 [Unknown] _Are you still bored, ____?_

* * *

... 

That was creepy.

* * *

 

[MC] ... _Am I supposed to be able to type what I want? Isn't this a choices game?_

* * *

 

She had read on the Wiki that it was like multiple choice-

* * *

[Unknown] ___ _. You are special._

* * *

 

It wasn't mockingly, it didn't seem like it but her skill was stunted like this - behind a screen.

* * *

 [MC] _Great.... I'm not going to help save the world._  

 [Unknown] _lololol no. I just want you to check on a friend of mine_.

* * *

Doable and less work.

Staring at the phone for a while, she almost pocketed it before it vibrated once more.

* * *

 [Unknown] _It's perfectly safe_.

[Unknown] _You'll be back home before your mother can notice._

* * *

 Whoever Cheritz - the name snagged on a distant alarm bell -  had programmed the app was eerily similar to herself and she wanted answers.

* * *

 [MC] _How do I know I can trust u?_

[Unknown] _You don't._

[MC] (ง'̀-'́)(ง'̀-'́)ง 

[Unknown] (シ_ _)シ _My God will reward you~~~_

* * *

 Laughing against herself, she responded, 

* * *

 

[MC] _I'll go check it out but I'll complain about it._

* * *

 

Looking at the address it wasn't that far from the bench and also appeared to be in a pretty safe neighborhood, and also she didn't want to go home just yet, so she went.

And immediately regretted it.

The door had a password but even without her gear she could still get it open, luckily Unknown sent her the code, so she didn't have to BS her way to get in.

What made her pause was the woman.

L Nox was a happily ignored psychic.

Which meant as long as she kept her head down and sunglasses up, she'd all but live a normal life.

And she had convinced most of the world of that lie.

So for this Unknown person to have sent her to check up on his very dead friend -  
Wait, maybe he didn't know-

* * *

 [Unknown] _I know you see her._

[MC]…. _What do you want from me?_

[Unknown] _Nothing at all._

[MC] _Isn't this a game?!_

[Unknown] _What do you think?_

* * *

 Looking up at the gently smiling blonde woman, she gingerly shakes her head and goes to leave....

Only for the door to slam in her face.

And from the click it just made, it locked her in too.

* * *

 [MC] _Seriously, who the hell are you?_

[Unknown] _Have fun! It'll be a lot less boring now._

* * *

 Her screen once again flashed the stereotype but this time there was a chat already going on.

* * *

 [Yoosung☆] (╥﹏╥)

[Yoosung] (╥﹏╥)

[ZEN] _Will u stop spamming? Trust fund kid probly thinks ur useful._

[Yoosung☆] _Really? (⌒▽⌒)☆_

* * *

 What...

So, she had just been dumped in a haunted apartment to watch a couple of friends fight?

Rubbing at the bridge of her nose, she continued to watch as there didn't seem to be a way to respond.

And there was no way in heck that she was about to talk to the ghost.

Old scars ran deep.

* * *

 [Jumin] _There's no need to be jealous._

[Jumin] (=^･ω･^=) _I have been blessed with the same things that you have._

[Jumin] _Save for one thing..._

[ZEN] _Which is?_

* * *

 She had no problem with cats or dogs but for the most part whenever pet owners shoved their pets on social media, she wanted to delete her account.

But THIS WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING IN THE WORLD.

SHE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHAT THEY WERE TRYING TO DO.

THEY WERE TRYING TO SHARE BEAUTY-

* * *

 [ZEN] Σ(▼□▼メ)

[ZEN] _Get that beast away from me! I'm sneezing already!_

* * *

 HOW. DARE. HE.

BEAST?!

* * *

 [707] _As much as I love our Elly…_

[Jumin] _Don't act like we share her._

[707] _There appears to be someone here._

[Yoosung☆] _isn't this supposed to be a secure chatroom?!_

[ZEN] _The eff is a MC?_

* * *

 Her screen suddenly glitched with a sudden blue spark and her screen name was suddenly...

* * *

 [NYX✧] _My name is unimportant. Who are you and why is this supposed to be a secure chat?_

[NYX✧] _And an "MC" usually would stand for "main character_ "

* * *

 Red heart, grey and purple heart bombard her screen and she scowled at the screen for answers as they all took their sweet time to type.

* * *

 [Jahee Kang] _I do not trust this "Nyx"._

[Jahee Kang] _Mr. Han, we can not guarantee that this person has good intentions._

[Jumin] _Let's call V_

[707] _On it!_

[NYX✧] _The road to hell is paved with good intentions._

[NYX✧] _Your mistrust is completely understandable, Jahee Kang._

[Jahee Kang]. _.. I did not expect you to understand._

[NYX✧] _I don't trust you people either._

* * *

 She, for the oddest reasons, actually felt a sharp pain in her heart when the golden heart she had gained before suddenly broke into gray.

But she gained a red one.

* * *

 [707] _You can trust her, Jaehee._

[707] _sorryfortypos_

[707] _typingwithonehandonthephonewithV_

[707] _didabackgroundcheck_

[Jumin] _We can wait for you to get off the phone._

[707] _Done~_

[707] _she's really pretty_

* * *

 Ignoring the way her cheeks heated, she played along with the lie,

* * *

 [NYX✧]ヽ(ー_ー )ノ... _Great, a hacker_

[707 _] I'm not a hacker_

* * *

 Oh, but you tried to be. She couldn't help the smile playing at her lips, she couldn't wait to see how he did with the challenge.

* * *

 [NYX✧] _Level the playing field, Red._

[NYX✧] _Tell me something~_

[NYX✧] (∩ᄑ_ᄑ)⊃━☆ﾟ*･｡*･:≡( ε:)  
_I command you ~_

[Jahee Kang](￣_￣)・・・

[Yoosung☆] _My name is Yoosung Kim and I'm a university student~_

[Jumin] _He's the youngest._

* * *

 Seven sent a picture of a perky blonde with pretty lavender eyes and slowly began introducing the rest of the group.

Jaehee was Jumin's assistant, Jumin worked for some huge corporation and Zen was a pretty famous actor...

That she had never heard of.

The Agency didn't really appreciate televisions...

It fucked with a lot of psychic visions and even cell phones gave her a nosebleed if she was on it for more than a few hours a day.

* * *

 [NYX✧] _Oi_!

[NYX✧](￣ ￣|||) _don't think I forgot you, Seven!_

[707] (♡ﾟ▽ﾟ♡)

[707](♡ﾟ▽ﾟ♡)

[707]... _It'd be a bit too dangerous for you not to, my lady_ ~~~~

* * *

 Giving the creepy emojis - and by default, him - a look through the cell, she drags her luggage away from the door.

* * *

 [707]... _Are you there?_

[707] _I'm praying that you're still there, my lady~_

[ZEN] _You don't pray..._

[707] _Yes, I do. See?_

* * *

 Dropping her suitcase off at what appeared to be the bedroom, first making sure that the ghost seemed okay with it first, and picking up her phone, she choked on her spit.

Beautiful golden eyes stared up at her but it still took her a moment to connect the hilarious 707 to the familiar looking  nun staring at the camera.

* * *

 [ZEN] _Burn it with fire!_

[NYX✧].... _I've been cleansed by your prayers~_

[707] (/￣ー￣)/~~☆’.･.･:★’.･.･:☆

[Jahee Kang](￣_￣)・・・

[Jahee Kang] _Nyx, you would appear to be a perfect match for Luciel._

* * *

 The only clear image that popped into her mind were Lucy and Ciel from ElseWorld.

* * *

[NYX✧] _Luciel_?

[707] _My baptismal name... It's too holy~~~~~_

[Jumin] _As it appears that everyone has forgotten your question. The RFA is a charity organisation that throws parties to raise money. This was originally done by Rika._

* * *

Officially her favourite. 

* * *

 [Yoosung☆] _But she's no longer with us..._

_So we use the chatroom simply to catch up with each other._

* * *

 At the name Rika, the ghost veered closer and sighed mysteriously, the way her breath misted in the air sending further chills down her spine.

Ghosts didn't breathe.

Mental projections did.

Rika was still alive.

But something about her had been broken.

* * *

 [Yoosung☆] _Maybe she's the one that sent you to her apartment!_

* * *

  _God_ , she hoped not.

* * *

 [Jumin] _With you here, perhaps we can restart the tradition._

* * *

 At the inkling of responsibilities she wasn't capable of being handed to her, she began to type out a denial.

* * *

 [Jahee Kang] _Of course if she isn't capable... Then it may truly be the end of the RFA._

* * *

 Jahee seemed to be the more sensible, guarded one of the group and for her to place the hopes of the RFA solely on her shoulders....

How badly had Rika's... Disappearance.. Hurt them?

(Warning bells sounded in her heart at how worried she was for them)

But Rika didn't seem to mind it, in fact, as she finished reading the message, the sound of slightly deranged sweet laughter filled her ears.

Against logic, determination filled her heart.

* * *

 [NYX✧] _I may not be capable right now, Jaehee but I swear to all of you, I will do my best to continue the RFA. Let's work together to make this the greatest party ever seen!_

* * *

 Hearts got sent her way, easing some nervous corner of her heart as she met Rika's enraged eyes.

"Come at me, lady."

 


	3. CHATROOM: SEVEN ZERO SEVEN

"Do you hear that screaming noise?"

WAKE UP.

Sometimes if he paused in the middle of typing, timing it just right, he could hear voices.

Sometimes it was a voice that sounded just like V except it wasn't over the phone and V didn't sound nearly so worried.

Other times, like the screaming that Yoosung apparently couldn't hear, it was a girl.

She didn't scream like this usually - piercing and drawn out like she was being attacked.

Thank God if not he probably would have gone crazy.

.... Crazier.

Sighing as his computer froze on the hallway screen of the CTV, he listens to his imaginary girlfriend's screams.

Don't get him wrong - if he knew where she was, he would go help in a heartbeat but..

WAKE UP.

606 was imaginary.

That voice he was hearing was imaginary.

Eventually the screaming tapers off and it's finally quiet, save for the buzzing of his computer buffering, and Yoosung had left.

He doesn't say that he misses the other side of Six - the quieter one that seems content to whisper about her day - but the moment he starts to, she starts to speak.

"Good morning, Saeyoung."

He likes her voice.

It's melodic and normally the cheer that he hears isn't half so forced.

Today must have been a bad day for her.

He wishes that she could hear him but maybe this was for the best...

He still pretended that she could hear his replies though.

"Good morning? Haha, I think it's pretty late for that, Six."

"Ah, wait- it's a bit late. It's 11:11, Seven, make a wish in heaven~"

It's such a sad laugh that he falters in the reply to his boss' email.

"... Today I had a nightmare."

He imagined that whoever she was, she had fingers laced together and was looking away from him, and if they met, he'd take one of her hands and kiss it.

But he couldn't meet her.

~~_SHE WAS IMAGINARY._ ~~

"You were trapped in a dating game and you had seen thousands of other girls who were all trying to get you to be real."

… he actually had no response.

This was what he had tried to tell the others..

Minus the other girls thing.

The only one he even halfway remembered was Nyx..

And Selene?

Selene was much fuzzier though so he tried not to give himself a headache thinking of her.

"When I came to save you, you just looked at me with such distaste... And then you said, "Eh? Why would I go home with such a freak like you?" Then you walk away with some brunette girl and Saeran stabs me. Then I wake up."

Blinking up at the ceiling, he's suddenly wholly aware of the wetness of cheeks and he can't remember why he's so sad.

Maybe because she mentioned his brother?

Maybe because she got to wake up?

Dangerously following an impulse, he imagines a girl.

He's no artist so all he can do is a silhouette but she's next to him, and he's pretty sure he didn't imagine the crying, but if Six is an imagined person then surely she'd be able to feel it if he hugged his imagination.

"You aren't a freak, Six."

The smell of sweet candy and something else that tastes just as delicious tickles his nose as he can feel her freeze in his arms.

Features start to appear that he didn't add - she had short, fluffy black hair that curled over her cheeks and paused at her shoulders and she was shorter than he'd imagined, her head just under his chin and she was squishy!

His sadistic side makes an appearance and he pinches her right cheek roughly, laughing at the yelp,

"Say that you're not freak, Six."

"Owsh! I'm not a fweak, Sweven. Leggo!"

Popping the 'p' nonchalantly, sadly enough he can see her fading,

"Nope. Not yet, two more things. One, remember that you've got the attention of the super awesome Seven ZERO Seven, Defender of Justice and secondly, you know what I want you to say~"

As cutely as anything, she murmurs,

"I love you."

He's just about to say it back before she pokes him in the side with a soft laugh and a snarl of,

"Vengeance~"

He laughs with her, slowly becoming somber as she starts to fade away, her hand on his cheeks icy,

"I really do love you, Sae. See you soon."

She's long gone and there's nothing to do but work on the project and there's no one there to hear his whisper,

"I hope."


	4. CHATROOM: 707

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 707 can't access the full background check so he goes to poor Mary the Third for some help.  
> Or Seven meets a fellow meme lord.

  
"She isn't who she says she is,"

Vanderwood paused dramatically as Saeyoung waited patiently for his handler to hurry up.

If he had the proper equipment here to get through her firewalls, he wouldn't have even called Marie.

"She's actually a lot more badass. Good job, Seven. You found something useful for once."

Laughing,

"Don't I always find something useful? What about Longcat?"

Vanderwood glared at him in irritation, he really didn't like things that he couldn't explain, but he merely smirked back before losing the fake smile.

"... Tell me about her. Is she dangerous?"

He couldn't help but feel ridiculous asking that but...

If the tugging sense of nostalgia wasn't warning enough...

He needed to know for certain.

Vanderwood paused for a frighteningly long moment - was his screen glitched? Was she dangerous? Was V wrong? - before announcing,

"No, she isn't. So calm your paranoia, Seven. She works for a different Agency."

A different... Agency?

"And she's not dangerous."

He really needed to get this through to Mary - the RFA could not be put into danger and she had already been there for three days.

"... It's not like she had much other choice, Seven. She's a freak of nature. And secondly, the sarcasm isn't appreciated, you little shit. She's not dangerous because she doesn't kill."

That's what most people said about him.

But look at him now.

"She's primarily a informant. Codenamed Mr. E. She's already put out an announcement that the RFA is under her protection and no information would be allowed to be sold or bought. Or else."

Vanderwood laughs for a second as he continued to read,

"I might have to take back the dangerous rating, kid. She's apparently well known for her connections and her temper. A girl after my own heart."

A picture of her - a much better one than the one on her background check - revealed that underneath the black sunglasses, she had suffered injury to the left eye.

A scar ran over what he could see of the eyelid and the white of her mask drowned out the rest of her facial features save for a mysterious smirk.

"She's almost as big as the Agency itself, kid. And the one that she works with is a lot less dangerous. They advertise themselves as some kinda boarding school abroad. Saint Charles School for the Emotionally Unstable and Gifted Children... "

Scrolling down to see a bit more of her was a bit of a mistake as she wore a fitted tuxedo that showed off her curves and the graceful curve of her neck.

"You're drooling, Seven."

Glaring at Vanderwood mockingly, checking that he wasn't drooling first, he shrugs,

"She's pretty~ And I'm a warm-blooded male. I'm sure a lot of people drool, Marie~"

"Just as long as you remember no personal relationships."

Saving the picture...

Didn't count as a close personal relationship.

He was just curious.

"So I'm on her personal site. It says here... Write it down. It's some kind of cipher. ' _4 R 3 U F E 3 7 I N G I T_ comma _M R_ period _K R 4 B S? Reverse the 7._ ' "

The moment he finished writing it, he erupted into laughter.

ARE YOU FEELING IT, MR KRABS?

" What? What's so funny, kid? Tell me before I taze you, dammit!"

"... Type in ' _N 0_ comma _T H 1 S   1 S_  
_P 4 T R 1 C K.'_ "

 


	5. VISUAL NOVEL: V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> V gets a chance to speak with L - and its not all fun and games at the RFA, oops I meant to say, OFA.

"WAKE UP."

The fragments of what remain is enough to propel him forward and give him the strength to lunge for his niece's mind.

Grief.

 _Pain_.

Grief.

She saw him in the game.

He didn't remember her-

Pain.

His own, this time.

Rika.

It was the only name he had been given and it still hurt to think it.

The only woman that he'd love, his muse, had actually done the unthinkable.

He didn't care very much that she had hurt him - no, in fact, he didn't want to see a world that clearly didn't want to see him happy.

"Valentine?"

It was Lawliet that he was worried about.

"How's my favorite niece?"

He tried to inject his voice with as much cheer as possible but he knew that they were just too similar.

"... You're in pain, V. You didn't have to come-"

He cuts her off quickly before that self-loathing, grey consumes her electric blue aura, knowing even with his eyes closed that she's about to cry,

"L. I promised that I would always be here."

"…But I'm burdening you."

Anger filters into his mind and he sits up without thinking, his eyes opening-

 **PAIN**.

"V! Lay back, lay back!"

Warmth floods his body before he can resist and this time he opens his eyes to black and white.

"Lawliet... I told you not to."

As she settles back into the metal chair at his bed, he catches the wince in her sky blue eyes and the way she gingerly sits back.

Healing always reopened her back.

 _Always_.

She almost gave him the blank, barely present look that she presented to everyone who caught her in pain but at his steady gaze, she sighed.

"Gheoul. He said that you weren't coming."

His second in command was steadily over-reaching his boundaries but they needed to cut him off at the head.

After this mission.

After they had all come home.

Then, then, Gheoul would pay.

"... What was the OFA made for, Lawliet?"

Pride flits over her face and there's a hint of a smile.

"The Office of Freedom Association was designed to free anyone and everyone under the oppression of this world."

"Including?"

"Those entrapped in various blackmail, otome games, addictions and depravity."

Opening his arms for a hug, almost missing the way that her shoulders trembled, he had tried his best to protect her from this world.

"... Don't forget that."

Her voice is much better at hiding the tears than his slowly dampening shirt but he doesn't call attention to it.

"But am I a person?"

The answer would normally be obvious if they weren't so different.

"Yes."

_~~Contrary to popular belief, he could still see.~~ _

It was just that he had to be careful with his digital devices and how much he watched and used.

He had seen the rules that Gheoul had put into place and it was for that reason that she had to hide the full extent of her abilities.

Dreamwalkers were fine, accepted by society with their advanced intelligence and skills, useful for so much more than than just the OFA's work.

They were the " _normal_ " ones.

Dreamweavers - Tracers and Architects - were ostracised in their entirety, their minds too unfocused to be stuck in a corporate environment and their abilities much more... _noticeable_.

Someone like Lawliet without the OFA would be cast aside with the only chance of work being some unsavoury job.

Like the ones that Gheoul was giving her and the rest of the Dreamweavers in the company.

More forceful,

"You're a _person_. No matter what anyone says you are a person and nothing was your fault."

"What about-"

"Nothing. Rika made her choice."

No matter how painful it was.

The familiar throbbing of his eyes prompt him to lay back and breathe through his nose.

It's after a long, long time that she speaks, soft and mournful, like she's speaking with a person in a coma.

"I saw Saeyoung... And I'm pretty sure that Saeran is Unknown."

Her aura flickers into the gray once more before settling into a darker blue and she sighs.

"Rika was in my apartment and didn't seem to be hostile until I agreed to take over something called the RFA. Some kind of fundraising party organization..."

She takes in a shaky breath,

"Even though we've freed Hyun Ryu and Jaehee Kang, both of their presences still linger in game. It was as if we had.. As if I had failed."

"You didn't."

"I didn't fail. No."

He knows and she knows that they can't allow thoughts like that to settle.

They kill.

She counts to 700, faltering at their individual numbers and freezing at 706,before continuing the report.

"I called them, of course. Both picked up and asked me if I had been texting them. They could remember participating in the chatroom but for them it was like a hazy dream. Alya and Ji Yeon both said that while they were in conversation with me, it was like they had fallen asleep again."

"..That settles it."

"Yep."

"If Rika really is the Architect behind this... We have to disconnect her from the Archive and arrest her on sight."

"Yes."

She's waiting for the order.

"... It's with a heavy heart that I officially put the Special Agent known as Rika on warrant list... Please be the one to arrest her, L."

Confusion filters into her aura, a sharp nauseating yellow against periwinkle, before she answers,

"I'll try my best."

At least, Lawliet will have mercy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> V's eyes are still messed up but he's an aura reader and can't "dreamwalk" like Rika and Lawliet. 
> 
> On a side note, I got a kudos! 
> 
> Authors like me LOVE kudos but you know what else we like? 
> 
> Comments ~
> 
> Say what made you keep reading or what made you click away, I want to know~
> 
> Thank you!


	6. CHATROOM: CONSPIRE

There were some things that just didn't change from in-game to reality.

 The sky was blue, the sun was hot, Jaehee Kang deserved better, clouds were condensed balls of gas and water, Zen was a pure boy that she's sad to say that she didn't have a crush on.

Even in game, she couldn't seem to muster up that spark that drove the other fangirls wild. Lounging on the bed haphazardly, she had been patiently trying to get Zen to understand that he was in a game and that dream of them being robots was actually half true, when he said something that made her sit bolt up.

"Jeez, I'm not Yoosung, you know? Tell Seven to keep his conspiracy to himself."

"What conspiracy?"

* * *

As it turned out, Seven was at least partially aware that this world wasn't real and had been trying to tell the other people about this fact for awhile now. After telling Zen she'd call back, she decided to return the favor of a background check and search for where he lived. Of course, now that Rika probably remembered that a real world even existed, this was so much harder than it should have been. Not that she could actually blame her. This was life as it should be and apparently in Magenta, it only got better.

Who wouldn't want to stay here?

The air was clean, everyone smiled and if you got a [GOOD END] your wildest dreams came true.

Never mind the obvious psychological damage of going through the [BAD ENDS] - in Yoosung's case, his bad end featured him going nuts and getting both himself and the MC killed - and the not so obvious damage of being imprisoned.

For the Architect, creating a separate world that started off voluntarily was literally the best thing on the planet. Especially since you didn't have to be on the planet. As long as it was a coherent thought, a place that you could breathe in and feel right, it could be anything.

[once she had lived on a cloud for weeks on end] 

Until it started to consume your actual life, making a separate escape from reality was amazing.

Everything tasted better, felt better. ... For the Architects.

Every now and then, Selene came over to complain about the fact that she couldn't eat the cake over here and she desperately needed to know what _exactly_ it was that Selene tasted. If it was dust then maybe she could change it.. Subtly, of course. Selene was a grade-S bitch but ultimately still a newcomer, clinging onto L of all people as a friend.

Which incidentally gave her the first clue for what this world did.

In this world, Lawliet Nox was a wise-cracking, smooth operator of a secret agent with a bit of a soft side. Her partner, Selene Sarali was a French beauty with a quirky style and a good heart.

They had been friends for years.

Insert a somewhat true tragic backstory to add to the drama and viola~

You had a great friendship with years of experience without any of that pesky hard work.

Of course none of that was true. She could exude a certain aura of badassery or be callous - she still didn't know when she had lost the ability to cry externally - or be James Bund-ish.

But she still adored her twin teddies mug that the twins had given her to get her to drink more water. She still had an embarrassing habit of flapping her arms when she was nervous, she squeaked when she was panicky, she called Jaehee a sweet soul and would do anything for that woman… Because Jaehee had _listened_ to her.

Her heart was seldom easily opened or understood and she had already been misunderstood as some kind of monster. When she had played Jaehee's route, she found a kindred soul in the woman and once they had been able to awaken her, they had set off to open the café she had imagined. They had called it MystiK - and it was doing _amazing_.

She couldn't quite help the smile that twitched to life at her home away from home as she rung the doorbell. She had always enjoyed cooking and baking and alongside that, their business partner, Ji Yeon had come up with a brilliant hook - a sort of band that did covers of famous K-pop songs and made music videos.

They naturally got Zen into it and it was always hilarious whenever a customer thought that she was a boy - only to be shocked when she began to sing or changed outfits.

"Please state the following in Arabic,"

A friendly sounding computer voice trilled with glee, breaking her out of her thoughts,

"Seven - Zero - Seven is the sexiest man on the planet."

She paused for a long moment before snorting.

In complete deadpan, " _. هو الرجل الأكثر جاذبية على قيد الحي سبعة صفر سبعة"_

The door, of all things, laughs and opens up to reveal a red-faced Saeyoung still giggling. "Who... Are you? Did Mary... Send you?" Pressing her hands flat against the lunchbox to keep from hugging home, pinching his cheeks or otherwise touching him, she mockingly scowled at him.

"And after you did a background check on me too! How dare you forget me, Seven?"

He stares for a moment before smiling at her beautifully, making her heart suddenly stutter,

"... L. Or should I call you, Mr. E?"

"Guilty as charged. I've come bringing gifts of food for the god Seven."

"…That's really kind of you but-"

Cue the stomach snarling and for once, it wasn't hers.

"I have Dr. Pepper~"

"... The God Seven graciously accepts your offering~"

* * *

The question was _how much was he aware of?_

Taking a deep breath and counting off the numbers in her head, she tries to resist the urge to touch her burning cheeks. Why did he keep asking her to say... That?

Just the thought of anyone ever hearing her say that to him was enough to almost make her stop checking up on him and Saeran... Though Saeran made some pretty odd requests too. But Seven had pinched her cheeks! Slowly and she could have definitely dodged him but... She had been curious. Too bad that visiting hours only allowed her a few minutes to check up on all of the people entrapped in the world.

"... Aren't you going to eat?"

Blinking into awareness, she's a little more lenient towards Saeyoung's uncomfortableness whenever he had caught either Saeran or herself staring. She had brought two boxes of food... Only one remained and unfortunately Seven had it. Rika was slowly climbing her list of most irritating people... The game script nudged her mind conspiratorially.

[They could share~]

 She could feel her cheeks burning and... Wouldn't you know it Saeyoung was still staring?

He had asked a question. She had an answer. "... I'll eat when I wake up."

WRONG ANSWER.

"…What?"

ABORT THE MISSION ABORT THE MISSI- Wait. She could use this! Clearing her throat and looking up at the ceiling - because that was a million times better than the confusion crossing Seven's face right now [or trying to remember socially correct way] - she begins, "Before I explain... Could you tell me a little about that theory you have about this world?"


	7. CHATROOM: 707 EXTREME

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mystic Messenger updates and Seven-
> 
> Has a brief glitch.

Having a girl come over to his house, bringing him food even, was a _little_ strange and made him extremely wary.

Having her know that he was allergic to soy sauce and hated heavy meals during the day instead opting for a lighter sandwich with Honey Buddha chips and PhD Pepper... Was borderline enough to make him watch every bite as she obviously zoned out.

Having her look like someone he knew but didn't know how he knew was downright _creepy_. ~~_but not and that was somehow creepier_~~

Like she had come to poison him like that Hacker Chasing Hackers group.

So when she asked about the theory, there was a big moment of _Aha_!

"Did Cheritz send you?"

She blinked once.

 _Twice_.

Her oddly gray eyes bore into him for a few moments as she contemplated how to answer. "First of all, no. If anything Cheritz wants me gone. Secondly, tell me what you _think_ you know."

As she's saying that, his mind suddenly wandered to why he was seeing her entirely in grayscale and featureless. Her shirt - which whenever he thought of the "HELLO KINKY" emblazoned on it with a cat later that would make him chuckle - was a sunset orange and blazing white.

She should not be gray.

"... There's a dead girl in my guest room."

And she should not be that calm.

Her shoulders shiver - holding something back that wasn't fear - on the way down of a casual shrug, her gloves pressing tight against knuckles and she exhales,

"Did she call herself MC?"

"Yes."

"She isn't dead. She was never alive in the first place."

Her tone grates on his nerves until he sees the wince of pain on her face, the way that she smoothly rises to her feet save for a split second of lost balance -

"You're having a migraine."

She merely closed her eyes and sighed,

"Yes, I guess you can call it that. Much worse than a typical one though."

Mary got them as well but usually he left immediately after they started.

Why was she staying? _Why did he want her to?_

"... Do you need sunglasses?"

"What I _need_ is to see the MC. And God, yes, please."

Taking her to the guest room was a struggle between telling her to look up and somehow marveling at how she and Vanderwood could navigate without bumping into a wall but they got through it.

How they got through it he didn't know-

He opened the door and the brunette woman lying on his bed was, miraculously, still there. When he had tried to show Zen... She had vanished into thin air and he- He wasn't hallucinating this girl. It hit him on the way back, a little bit after the girl had pushed him out of his thoughts with a loud French swear-sounding phrase.

"Merci... Dieu sout loué."

He didn't speak French.

It was one of those languages that he never bothered with as French people did their dirty work with a more... Hands on approach. 

Arabic was just a game to play with the RFA and Vanderwood only knew some because he was Egyptian.

So when he replied to her, in French, his voice pitching lower,

"Il n'y a pas de quoi,"

He froze, the pills he had brought along clattering to the floor. She looked up at that, the frame of his aviators overtaking her face, noting,

"You didn't know you had known French." Didn't know? Had known?

"What the hell is going on?"

He didn't scream it like he wanted to, another strange thing, but he snarled it just the same.

"... That girl inside your room.. Is nothing more than a computer program."

But-

That was his girlfriend.

Something inside him wanted to scream while another part sat perfectly still and listened to the screaming while some far off part of him simply waited-

"But I spoke with her."

"Yes, many times."

"No, she had said she loved me!"

"She was programmed to by the route that someone else was playing. 'I was surprised that you had gone the Jaehee route?' Think, Seven, think."

He couldn't remember saying that, he didn't know what to say, his brain working in overtime-

Awareness and wariness are in gray, grey eyes and this strange girl is too _close_.

She began to plead, softly, as though he were holding a loaded gun,

"She's said I love you to Yoosung, to Jumin, to everyone. Because she's a computer program.. "

"Made by Cheritz."

He can suddenly think clearly. ... Well, clearer than before when his thoughts started getting away from him.

"So this world must be made by Cheritz as well?"

She winced, not from pain, but from his apparent wrongness.

They will not discuss what happened until they need to. 

It can wait. 

"Well, the storyline is Cheritz but this world is a dream."

And he dropped the knife he didn't know how he held.

Much less gotten.

The clatter assured him that it was real.. Or as real as this world got. Her eyes flickered from blue to gray, blue to gray, blue to gray, empty empathy in their depths-

"You aren't joking."

He's too close to this girl.

And even though he imagined that he had just threatened her, he also imagined that he saw her wilt in the step he took back.

Maybe she relaxed. She had no right to feel safe with him.

Maybe she was just as dangerous.

"Alright."

The tiny bit of emotion, humanity, he had seen shut down and died in her eyes as the unfamiliar girl peeked around the corner with the familiar Yoosung at her side.

"Are you two lovebirds up the duff quite yet?"

"That would imply we're both pregnant. Use the proper slang if you must use it at all, Ms. Sarali."

"Aw, I at least wanted your tight ass to get-" At Yoosung's yelp and L - that's her name, something that sounded like Rika patiently whispered - glaring at her something fierce, Sarali - _Selene_ , he'd done background checks on both of them! How was he forgetting? - cut herself off.

"Explain to them how this works. I'm waking up MC."

Almost naturally when Selene didn't, he wasn't surprised. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lawliet says in French: Thank you... Thank God.
> 
> Seven replied: Don't worry about it.


	8. CHATROOM: BATTERY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lawliet starts being Lawliet and all the angsting of being a Lawliet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some slight mention of blood, canon divergence, anxiety, implied abuse that starts here and only gets worse and moral ambiguity. 
> 
> Law doesn't quite know what to do with herself and I don't know what to do with this chapter.

She wasn't sure why she hated Selene so much.

(oh, she knew exactly why-)

(but HR wouldn't care)

(as long as she did her job, kept her nose down-)

Sharp giggling crawls down her neck like nails on a chalkboard and she _hates_ it when Selene flirts.

But God, she hates it more when she does it at Seven.

He's hers and hers and _hers_ and hers and hers and-

Not.

But she can't lose him.

Even not having him at all would be better than giving him to Selene.

(she wouldn't trust Selene with a plushie)

Breathing sharply against that hole in her chest (tiny-looking, flat, are you sure you're a D? Are you sure are you sure are you sure-)

Try again. Shove away bad thoughts.

Breathing rattles her hollowed insides but she's-

Holding the wrong wrench.

( **GOD, CAN'T YOU D** _O ANYTHING RIGHT_ -)

She still flinches.

Badly.

And it's always whenever a plate gets thrown.

Or a mug drops.

Or when it's too dark at the edges of her vision.

So she flinched at the sound and blinked when she finds herself in the smallest corner of the guest room.

She knows she didn't walk here.

She has the right wrench.

She knows the magic behind it but doesn't say a word, only holding up four fingers to her lips.

Death.

Zero.

Death.

Unfolding herself ( _what is she trembling for dammit did i touch her_ -) gingerly, she slips into a stand, the floorboards barely bending beneath her and the game starts.

How much can she get away with changing?

The gravity?

The color?

Twirling the cold, cold, cold wrench around her index faster, faster, _faster_ , she can feel that hole becoming just plain empty and empty is good because fake smiles are _good_.

(people will hate you if you keep looking at them like that-)

(smile more, ok)

Know what else is good?

If she thinks about this girl in terms of machinery, she knows how to fix her face.

If she thinks of her as a person, she knows how to save her life.

If she thinks of the girl in terms of Spice -  
She knows how to save her own life.

(finally!)

(ya gotta stop trying to be so damn nice,ya ain't-)

(ya ain't sweet but ya is loyal)

(and ya love like ya breathe, like ya need it to survive)

God, she missed that sorry sonovagun.

If she thought of her as all three, she had just found a way to save Jumin.

Cracking her knuckles absently, finger by finger to release the energy she never knew why she had, she approached the faceless girl on the bed and turned her over.

Her wrist had taken on a pulse - fluttering at first as her electricity surged for a moment then steady, alive - and she began to remember as she worked.

France had been...

 _Art_.

In between starving, clawing, bleeding, the streets, her underground-

When her father called her to his garage to show off what had absorbed him that week, she happily basked in his sunshine as they destroyed what little logic his machines had.

She blinked with an empty smile sitting on her face as the not so empty MC mimicked it smoothly…

Despite the fact that her hands were deeply implanted in the girl-machine's chest, she couldn't feel a heartbeat.

She'd have to fix that..

As well as figure out how to implement blood.

How deep of a red blood did it need to be?

She's suddenly grateful that she isn't straddling this girl with blood on her hands.

( ~~ _empty empty empty empty_~~ -)

Her hands are suddenly slick and red and slick and oh God take her hands out out  
out out _OUT_ but it's not letting her _GO_ -

She's pulled backwards by hands and no no no no no _no_ no no no she's back she's here she's _here_ no no no no she can't _breathe_ she can't breathe her hands not again -

It's the way that the hands and voice are both warm (there) that eventually allows her to take a deep breath, then another, then another, greedily.

"... Slow down. Deep breaths, oxygen isn't going anywhere. That's it."

No, it wasn't.

But she was.

Forcing her eyes open, her scar pulling in the way that it does whenever she's stressed enough to show it, she almost immediately freezes as she comes face-to-face with a beautiful brunette girl with worried pearly skyline gray eyes.

Someone had _fixed_ MC.

"Are you OK?"

She had been so focused on the fixed MC that she hadn't realised that she was being held.

But looking up at Saeyoung's face, shame almost immediately stiffens her at the worry that she never knows what to do with and she looked away.

She had exploded.

"... Yes. I'm fine. It happens to people like me."

She could feel his heartbeat against her back and she sighed mentally at the sudden complexity of the situation she was facing.

It was pretty obvious that the game had updated its code to try and fix any stray glitches (i.e, that pesky sudden lack of attraction that the characters showed even when in [GOOD ROUTE]) and thus set Seven's (probably Yoosung and Jumin's) memory into a default mode.

If she even tried to explain that she was a childhood friend ( _cue the hysterical laughter because holy_ shit, _were those lines still there_?) or whatever they were, his mind could literally implode and kill him.

And Saeran.

(and anyone who happened to be stuck in game but she had to follow the lines of the script so it'd probably just be them)

The reason they had even become friends was because even though he asked questions...

He knew what to ask.

And how.

"People like you?"

She still hadn't moved.

He still hadn't asked.

( _was this OK? No one cared_ )

Closing her eyes, not moving, she picks up the wrench and dances it in front of them.

"... You meant people like us then."

Her eyes open and she can see a flash of crimson before the wrench is gently tugged on before she released it.

It goes careening towards the top of her head but she trusts his instincts and his heart's still racing when he stops it inches away from her head.

"... You need practice."

"No. You don't get to change the subject, _Lawliet_. Your friend already tried."

( _oh please, please, please don't say it like_ that)

(it sounds like Saeran and he should be here too, all of us should be together, here)

He's irritated and it colors his tone and she stands up (before he can ask her) to pace the small room while she fights with how to phrase it.

The answer to his question.

"People like us? Cheritz? Tell me something, Law."

Before she can fully stop it, she corrects him automatically,

"L. You call me L."

"Like V?"

"His full name is Valentine and... He's not actually here. He'd probably go into a coma if he were here."

He's not looking directly at her and goodness, the wonders that does for her frayed nerves is orgasmic.

"... I'm not in a coma?"

His voice is questioning and humanising and she clings to it. [ ~~like she clung to the little boy who stopped her from killing his mother~~ ]

What's important is that he's not yelling at her.

He's trying to understand.

And that's -

[ _whyshe'sinlovewithhim_ ]

Clearing her throat of the sudden sawdust, watching as her latest machine MC starts to become self-aware, she elaborates.

"You're in a game. More specifically, a game that is made for alleviating the occasional loneliness or the need for a simple romantic overture. You're dreaming."

That's what gets him.

He's up and moving and close and gone, pacing around her, orbiting her and -

Golden eyes locked on hers, [ _her lips tingling for a smile, something to make him stop, laugh with her, do it, do it- he's not like that_ ] and she wondered again if she sat down to draw him... What kind of monster he would be.

Sometimes she thinks a kitsune [ _a three tailed one, for all his mischief, he truly is a defender of justice_ ].

Other times, at night, when she presses her palm against the smooth of her chest, her heart an discordant song and soul suddenly vicarious, she thinks him an incubus, there to devour her.

[ _she tries not to think of how much she'd like to see red, maybe strawberries, more likely blood. she wants, wants too light a word, him and saeran in her_ living _color_.]

"…Well, congratulations me for making so lovely of an imagined creature."

Sometimes he and Saeran repeat each other when they're apart.

But Saeran said that exact sentence years ago and to hear it again made her heart stop.

[ ~~ _she had no idea what to do with her face_~~ ]

"... I'm not a part of your imagination."

He's still stupid.

"Ah, bummer. Doesn't make you any less cute."

She should not be in love with him.

[nor should her face be that red]

"... Stop being sauve and I'll fully explain it!"

It takes her a moment to marvel at the irritation - the heat - in her chest.

She's felt so [ _empty_ ] nothing for two years that to even feel something aside from the godawful rage and hate and why-the-fuck-did-God-put-you-on-the-fucking-planet? Gehoul inspired daily was kind of surprising.

She likes it.

He looks at her with something akin to relief and nods vindictive about something.

"Much better."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I pretend that I put morally dubious up there, please? 
> 
> AO3: no. 
> 
> Okay then. 
> 
> In later chapters, I'll have to change the rating but jeeeeeeeez, L got dark.

**Author's Note:**

> What's up, MM Trash?  
> Your sleep schedules better yet? Lololol-
> 
> In a darker note, boy, does the Deep Route decide to STOMP on some heartstrings. 
> 
> On Day 8 (some say Day 10) of Daddy, I mean, Jumin's route, Seven calls you literally crying and says you don't love him anymore and-
> 
> TAKE MY ENTIRE HEART, LUCIEL. 
> 
> But after a bit more time (and ice cream), I decided that I wanted to write a story about Seven and his Imaginary girlfriend, 606.
> 
> I honestly am having fun writing this and I hope you enjoy reading!


End file.
